How to Move a Spa or Hot Tub

By Mick — handyman, Newcastle NSW.

A 4-person spa weighs 280 kg dry. A 6-person weighs 380 kg. Filled with water and people they’re 1,200 kg plus, but you’d never move them filled — that’s a teardown job. Empty, with the right kit and the right number of bodies, you can DIY a spa move. Done it twice on my own place and three times for mates.

The bit that catches people is the tilt-trolley. Spas are big square things with no obvious lifting points. A regular Bunnings furniture trolley ($79, rated 200 kg) will fold under a 280 kg empty spa — not maybe, definitely. You need a rated tilt-trolley (Kennards hire, 500 kg rating, $35 a day) and the technique is to walk the spa onto its edge first, then load it.

The Aussie-specific bit nobody mentions: most Aussie spas live under a pergola, gazebo, or deck-built shade structure. Those structures have to come apart in the right order, and if you plan to reassemble them at the new house you need to think about AS 1170 wind loading — particularly in cyclone zones (anywhere north of Bundaberg). Don’t just unbolt and chuck it in a trailer; the post connections are engineered.

What you’ll need

• A rated tilt-trolley (Kennards $35/day, 500 kg)
• 4 ratchet straps (2.5 m, 800 kg)
• 6 strong adults for the lift onto the trolley
• 4 removal blankets
• A submersible pump or large wet/dry vac (drain residual water)
• 13 mm and 17 mm sockets (skirt panel screws)
• An impact driver with long Phillips bit
• Painter’s tape and a marker
• Hose for the drain
• Optional: a small hire trailer (1.6 m × 2.4 m) — most spas won’t fit in a ute tray

Step 1: Drain the spa fully — 24 hours before move day

Open the drain valve at the lower side of the cabinet. Most modern spas (Spa World, Just Spas, Vortex) have a 25 mm threaded outlet — connect a garden hose and run it to the lawn or a stormwater drain (check with your council if you’ve got chlorinated water — some councils require dechlor first).

The drain valve gets you 95% out. The last 5% sits in the pipework and footwell. Leave it overnight to gravity-drain into the footwell, then on move day you’ll vac out what’s left.

Step 2: Vac out residual water

Wet/dry vac the footwell and seat areas. There’s always 10–15 L sitting in pipe runs that won’t drain by gravity. If you skip this step the spa will weep water all the way down the road, and inside the cabinet the residual will short electrical components if it sloshes during transit.

Step 3: Disassemble the surrounding structure (pergola/gazebo)

If your spa sits under a pergola, that’s coming off first. Photograph every junction. Most Aussie spa pergolas are 90×90 mm hardwood posts on Bremick post-shoes bolted to the deck or slab.

Order: roof panels off (Colorbond or polycarbonate sheets — undo Tek screws into the rafter battens), rafters off, posts unbolted from post-shoes. Bag every screw with the timber it came from.

For cyclone-zone homes (Brisbane and north), photograph the cyclone tie-down strapping at the post bases. AS 1170 specifies tie-downs by wind region — if you’re moving from Region B (Brisbane) to Region C (Cairns), the rebuild needs upgraded ties. Take a tape measure of every dimension before you pull it apart.

Step 4: Disconnect the electrical — sparky job

Spas wire into a dedicated 32 A circuit with a weatherproof isolator switch nearby. Disconnecting it is licensed sparky work — call Ash or your local. Don’t be the bloke who gets caught DIY-isolating a spa circuit, the fine starts at $1,800 and your house insurance is void if you cause a fault.

The sparky will lock-off the breaker, disconnect the spa-end, and tag the cable. Reconnection at the new house is another $250 callout but it’s not optional.

Step 5: Remove the spa skirt panels

Spas have removable cabinet panels (timber-look or composite) so technicians can access the pumps. Unscrew them — usually 8–12 Phillips screws per panel — and stack flat on a blanket. With panels off, you’ve got access to the pump and the underside of the shell, which makes the lift safer because there are now real handholds.

Step 6: Tilt the spa onto its edge — 6-person lift

This is the big moment. 6 adults, three on each long side. Count to three, lift one long edge straight up. Walk the spa onto its side until it’s resting on the long edge. Lay it onto a thick blanket — the shell is acrylic and scratches if it touches concrete or pavers.

If you don’t have 6 people, stop now. A 280 kg lift with 4 people is how you get someone with a permanent back injury. Wait until you’ve got 6.

Step 7: Slide the tilt-trolley under

Spa now resting on its long edge on a blanket. Slide the rated tilt-trolley under from the lower edge — the trolley’s flat bed slides between the spa edge and the ground. Two helpers lever the spa up 50 mm onto the trolley while two more push the trolley fully under.

Step 8: Strap the spa to the trolley

Four ratchet straps minimum. Two long straps over the spa shell (with blankets between strap and acrylic to prevent scuffing), two short straps anchoring the spa edge to the trolley frame. Test the strap tension by giving the spa a gentle shake — it shouldn’t move on the trolley.

Step 9: Walk it to the trailer or truck

Slow walking pace. One person steers the trolley handle, two push from the spa side, two spotters watch the wheels for cracks in the path. On grass, lay sheets of plywood ahead of the trolley to bridge soft ground — wheel sinks at this weight will tip the load.

Up the trailer ramp: do not push from behind alone. Use a winch or a ratchet-and-anchor system at the front of the trailer to pull the trolley up under controlled tension. Pushing 280 kg up a ramp goes wrong fast.

Step 10: At the new house, reverse the process and re-engineer the structure

Reverse order: trolley off truck, walk to spot, 6-person lift back to flat, panels back on, sparky reconnects, structure rebuilds.

For the pergola/gazebo rebuild, check the new site’s wind region (Bureau of Meteorology has a map). If the new region is more cyclone-prone, upgrade the post-shoes to cyclone-rated and use M12 hold-down bolts not M10. Local council may want a permit for a structure over 10 m² — check before you reassemble or you’ll be dismantling again.

The Mick rule

Six people, a rated trolley, and a sparky on each end — that’s the spa-move kit. Anything less and you’re rolling the dice on a $5,000 unit and somebody’s spine. The pergola is its own job and worth treating as one — photograph every joint before disassembly because the rebuild instructions are now your photos. And get the sparky to do the connection at the other end; that’s not the line to cross to save $250.

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